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Finally here it is - 'Scarsick', Pain of Salvation's 6th studio album which was highly anticipated amongst prog fans.
Actually it is nearly impossible to review this album without writing an in-depth analysis that would cover a 'few' more pages, but I'll try it anyway. Pain of Salvation belongs to that kind of Progressive metal bands that do not fit into any category and cannot really be compared to other bands. Whereas Dream Theater are the figurehead of this genre, Pain of Salvation are totally different and almost unmatched. The music they create cannot easily be described with words since there's so much more behind it. The words and the whole concept behind the songs play a role as big as the musical part itself. Before one approaches an album by this band one should be aware of the fact that it takes time, a lot of time, until one might get to the core of the album - if at all. Whether you might succeed in this or not depends on yourself and your open-mindedness. Sometimes it's just not possible to get into their albums - this also happened to me and the complexity of their previous album 'BE' even though I liked the earlier albums a lot.
Maybe it's easier if you don't even try to understand everything you're offered by this band or rather by Daniel Gildenlöw who is the driving force behind it all. "Scarsick" however has a totally different approach and there is not much that reminds of 'BE' here. Three years have passed and recently the band lost its bass player (bass duties were handled by Daniel Gildenlöw himself this time) but this surely has nothing to do with the fact that Pain of Salvation present themselves with a new album that couldn't be more diverse.
Lyrically the album deals with different sociocritical topics, some are more evident, some less. For example the titletrack "Scarsick" criticizes the 'sick' society we live in as a whole. In any case there is a lot to reflect on in the booklet, which is worth reading. However, I think it might be better for everyone who get into the lyrics themselves as I intended to keep this as short as possible.
The musical side of 'Scarsick' offers a broad variety of styles and is more diverse than any other Pain of Salvation album was before. Whereas the earlier albums and also 'BE' were maybe a bit too complex, the complexity was reduced so that no one should be afraid of this. In fact there are so many styles combined that it becomes difficult to find the actual 'metal' part here. Especially songs like "America" or "Disco Queen" might sound quite odd in the first place but unmistakably show that we're dealing with Pain of Salvation here. Those two songs are probably those with the catchiest refrains and they also show something that hasn't been there before: they sound like cheerful pop or disco songs. Where's the overall dark and deep-emotional atmosphere? Definitely odd, but they fit surprisingly well to the whole concept of the album. What follows is a calm ballad "Kingdom of Loss" (see the parallel to "King of Loss" of 'The Perfect Element Pt.1'?) with a dreamy atmosphere, again dealing with an interesting sociocritical topic written in a quite ironical way. Additionally, I would call this song my favorite of the album, next to "Disco Queen" :)
The last and also longest song "Enter Rain" makes the album complete so that it can be seen as one unit. It's a song that sounds typically like Pain of Salvation and shows that they are not only able to create amazing music but also songs that have a certain depth and soul.
Overall this album opens a new chapter in Pain of Salvation's musical way. They proved that they can surprise their fans every time with something unexpected and even if this is no second 'The Perfect Element' which was and is their best album up to now, it is an album worth listening. Even if it sounds complex and difficult it is rather easy to get into this album, but see yourself. There's a lot more to discover than one sees at first sight.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Scarsick |
| 2. Spitfall |
| 3. Cribcaged |
| 4. America |
| 5. Disco Queen |
| 6. Kingdom Of Loss |
| 7. Mrs. Modern Mother Mary |
| 8. Idiocracy |
| 9. Flame To The Moth |
| 10. Enter Rain |
: 67.52
| Buy other Pain of Salvation albums |
